Persistent short-range tactical surveillance in the littorals is hampered by the short masts and restricted lines-of-sight of unmanned vehicles. A new U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) initiative to develop a multicomponent system called Navy Expeditionary Overwatch (NEO) aims to correct this. It uses data relays and ground, water and airborne platforms, manned and unmanned, to provide surveillance, security and communications for tactical operations.

NEO is based on existing technologies. Collaborating on it with the ONR are Northrop Grumman and the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, which will be its main user.

The intent, says James McMains, director of the ONR's Combating Terrorism and Navy Enterprise Integration Div., is for shore and other ground-based systems to share intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data from unmanned aerial and surface vehicles. Combining these capabilities will be a force multiplier.

"It's a multiple system [whose components] work well with each other and go a long way toward satisfying mission requirements on water and land," says McMains. Water coverage includes coastlines, waterways and near-coastal ocean regions.

The system has four elements. One is a Humvee with a Gunslinger 50-cal. countersniper weapon. Gunslinger, developed by the ONR, is an acoustic system that detects shock waves and muzzle blasts from enemy fire, computes direction and sends the data to operators in the Humvee. Operators aim the gun and return fire in as little as 2 sec. Other components are a ground-control trailer, ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) adapted from the 38-ft. Nighthawk racing boat.

An unmanned underwater vehicle isn't planned yet, but sensors may soon dangle from the gunwales of USVs and surface craft to identify hostile divers and other threats.

In a test late last year at the Naval Surface Weapons Center, the linked components identified and "neutralized" simulated insurgents firing at the Humvee. NEO's acoustic and infrared (IR) sensors pinpointed the hostiles.

A demonstration in August showed that a large USV could provide overwatch from a mother ship. The trial involved a shore-based AN/SPQ-9B air-search radar (standing in for the mother ship) from Northrop Grumman and a manned boat deployed as a communication relay for the USV, which was sent beyond radar range to provide early warning capability. The USV was able to transmit streaming video 25 naut. mi. away.

The USV used in the trial, Northrop Grumman says, has electro-optical, IR and acoustic sensors and the Boomerang gunfire-detection system from BBN Technologies. Communications are built around Harris Corp.'s SeaLancet RT-1944/U multiband network radio. Later trials may use a communication relay-equipped UAV. USV with sensors and communication systems plies coastal waters.Credit: U.S. NAVY

Robustness is a challenge for surveillance systems in marine environments. McMains notes that the Scan­Eagle is established in theater and Gunslinger is a rugged, proven weapons system. The USV, though, is proof-of-concept and needs hardening.

Larry Datko, manager of expeditionary warfare programs at Northrop Grumman, reckons the "near-term" program is an alternative to the "dull, dirty" work of persistent ISR. Troops now "either stand watch, walk a perimeter, fly surveillance missions, dive underwater or patrol a coastal region looking for threats. This is the type of work that can be accomplished by NEO-like unmanned systems." Datko adds that NEO largely solves the problem of restricted sight lines and short UAV masts. In the August demonstration, Northrop Grumman "showed new capabilities for rapidly countering evolving and challenging air and surface threats in the littoral environment by demonstrating the integration of the AN/SPQ-9B radar, NEO system sensor data and streaming video into the Integrated Combat Management System (ICMS)."

The ICMS also verified that NEO's capabilities could be "affordably integrated" with the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship, he says. For that matter, ICMS "could be employed on any surface craft in the littoral region."

"The major issues with deploying unmanned vehicles," Datko concludes, "are not technological . . . but [deal] with safety and legal issues of operating unmanned vehicles. There is still work to be done in updating 'maritime rules of the road,' rules of engagement [and] concept of operations, as well as airspace and water space management issues. All are complicated by unmanned vehicles."

Photo credit: U.S. Navy